New to this

[elfjunkie]

I was referred to this site from another site because I was not able to get my ATI TV Wonder Elite to record MPEG2 files directly. I am using MCE and the recorded TV programs all came out as DVR-MS files. So will installing GBPVR allow me to record my TV programs directly in MPEG2 files?

What do I need to do to install GBPVR? Just download and install? Anything else I need to do?

Once I install it, does it work like Media Center?

Thanks for your help!

[sub]

Yes, it'll record standard .MPG files.

You need an MPEG2 decoder installed, the Microsoft .net v1.1 runtime, and the drivers for your card. Thats about it.

[elfjunkie]

Please forgive me for my ingorance. What's the difference between MPEG and MPEG2? I was hoping that it would record files in MPEG2 so I don't have to do any conversion when I run it through my DVD creator. Is the file extension for MPEG2 .mpeg2?

[sub]

Both MPEG1 and MPEG2 have the extension .mpg. MPEG1 is older and commonly used on things like VCDs. MPEG2 is newer, and used on things DVDs etc. GB-PVR records MPEG2 files.

[elfjunkie]

Awesome. I will try it out tonight and hope it will work on my computer.

One related question: I am using SonicMyDVD to burn my recorded TV programs onto a DVD. I converted the DVR-MS into MPEG2 first then imported them into SonicMyDVD for DVD authoring. The actual burning is fast but the program spends a long time (half hour for half hour content) transcoding the MPEG2 before burning it. Why does it do that?

Is there a program that is similar (let you create menus, buttons, titles, etc.) but a lot faster and doesn't transcode the files that are already in MPEG2?

THanks!

[littlalex]

Hi - It takes so long because processing video is about the most CPU intensive work you will ask your PC to do. The speed will of course depend on the speed of your CPU, memory, Hard Drive and such.

What are your system specs?

In my experience a moderately fast system will transcode video at about 2 or 3X
realtime (realtime generally being about 30 fps).

Some software is also faster at doing the encoding than other software. I haven't ever used Sonic so I can't comment on it's speed.

If you capture in mpeg2 you can set it up so you can skip the transcoding step to create your DVDs

To find out more about all these issues I suggest you do some reading over at
http://www.videohelp.com.

Good luck with GBPVR and have fun!

Littlalex

[elfjunkie]

I have an Athlon 64 3800+ processor with 1G memory. Thought that's supposed to be a pretty fast system. What software program do you use to create DVDs to skip transcoding MPEG2? I will have to see whether I have that option. Thanks.

[littlalex]

Hi - I don't actually create DVD's per say, but just burn mpg files right to the DVD media which works fine in my DVD players.

I haven't used Sonic, but all DVD creation programs allow you to import mpeg 2 files for DVD creation.

Littlalex

[A_Brass]

To avoid transcoding you may need to find the option in your software that tells it not to transcode dvd compliant mpeg files.

Ulead DVD MovieFactory has this option. But if you force different quality settings it will force a transcode so watch for that.

[elfjunkie]

Thanks guys!